Playtime.

Whenever I watch an episode of “My Cat From Hell”, in which Jackson Galaxy goes to houses with troubled cats, I’m surprised at how people who call themselves cat lovers know absolutely nothing about cats.

What often strikes me is that a lot of these people, who have so-called troubled cats, don’t have any cat toys in the house and never really play with them.

It is such a misconception that cats do their own thing and don’t need a lot of attention. Indoor cats in particular need plenty of playtime. Playtime replaces the hunt. Get toys that you can drag along. Feather boas on a string and other dangly toys. Let them stalk and run after the toys and then catch them. Hide the end behind a corner or under a chair. Play with them for at least 15 minutes at a time, several times a day. A good routine would be: playtime, food, sleep. It is the most logical sequence. Cats sleep a lot during the day but in between they hunt and eat. So get them used to regular meal times and don’t leave food out all day and play (hunt) before meals.

Toys don’t have to be expensive. Have a look at zooplus.ie. Only a few Euros for a feather boa and there are often special offers with toys. Don’t throw out the boa once all the feathers have been ripped off. The fast moving plastic bit moves even faster and they will hunt that too. You can also attach a bit of cardboard or some grass at the end. One of Cato’s favourite toys was a shoestring. He loved to chase it and then sit down and chew on it.

Tina and Charlie’s favourites from Zooplus at the moment are:

The cat dangler pole feather boa (package of two for € 4.99). These don’t live that long but even without the feathers you can still play with them.

The cat dangler pole bird (at the moment of writing € 2.39). This is a long pole with a string and real feathers at the end. When you move it through the air, the feathers turn and make it look like a small bird.

Leather tassel dangler pole. This one is a bit more expensive at € 8.99, but it is also a lot sturdier than the other ones. It took the two a little while to get used to it but now they love it.

Also get a few toys that they can play with on their own. Bouncy balls (1 Euro or less in a discount store), fabric mice filled with catnip, a roundabout cat toy (€ 3.99 at Zooplus at the time of writing) or simply a cardboard box. Tina and Charlie are having great fun tearing at a cardboard box and jumping in and out while chasing each other. Don’t assume that two cats are fine playing together all the time. Cats are solitary hunters so give them some personal hunting time.

Playing doesn’t just replace the hunt; it also makes cats feel secure in their surroundings and is a great way of bonding with them.

Toys that are not such a great idea are laser pointers. Oh, don’t get me wrong. They love chasing the light but it is very frustrating as there is nothing to catch. You also have to be very careful not to shine it in their eyes.

Laser pointers do have their uses as they can be used to distract cats that are in a fight or get a cat to go back to a food bowl or into a carrier. Make sure though you give a reward after the cat is in the carrier (a little snack will do). You can make your own toys as well. All you need is a stick, some string and material that will dangle at the end. It could be anything like feathers, some fabric from an old shirt, a little strip of cardboard etc. Oh, and simply move a piece of paper under a door or between the hinges. They love it. Variation is the word.

Cats who get plenty of playtime are happy cats. They are less likely to become obese and are more confident in their surroundings.

Click on a photo to see a bigger version.

 Tina chasing a ball.

 Charlie playing with the left overs of a dangling toy.

 Tina fascinated by the roundabout toy.

 Charlie going for the ball in the roundabout toy.

 

 Tina sticking her paw through the hole she created and Charlie thinking of attacking her. :)

 Tina looking through the hole in the box, she created herself.

Battle scars.

Ever been in a scrap with a more or less domesticated feral cat? Well, today I got myself beat up by Tina. She escaped and was outside for over an hour. Then finally I saw her and lured her towards me with a toy. She tried to pull the toy into the bushes and when that didn't work, she ran again. Then she came back to the toy and I was able to grab her. She doesn't like to be carried so she fought like a wild cat. Got bitten quite hard a few times and scratched all over my hands and on my arms as well.

But I got her back inside. I rinsed out the wounds straight away and washed my hands and arms with anti-bacterial hand soap. Then I put antiseptic Sudo healing cream on the wounds and scratches. It'll be fine.

As soon as I had that done I gave Tina her dinner and after she'd finished went into the sitting room and played with her for a while. She was back to normal in no time and was rubbing my leg and hands while looking at me as if to say: "who in the name of the great feline mother did that to you?"

I really hope that when we let her out in a few weeks, she will come back to us. It's always a bit of a gamble but I would hate to see her stuck indoors for the rest of her life. We have to take the chance at some stage. The same with Charlie. He's a lot more easy-going though, and doesn't mind being carried around and often cuddles up to me on my lap. He’s a different feline personality altogether.

 Tina, the wild girl.

Litter matters.

Some people train their cats in using the toilet like humans do. This is not a great idea as it goes against the natural way cats like to bury their pee and poo and for other reasons that will be mentioned later.

An uncovered or covered litter box should do the job nicely (I use covered ones myself). Cats who have access to a garden will do most of their business outside, but some of it still inside.

Pet shops sell various types of litter: scented, clumpy, biodegradable, silicone, wood, etc. So what kind of litter is the right kind to use? In my opinion you should stay away from clumpy clay litter. The dust is bad for cats’ lungs and can cause cancer in cats as well as humans. There is no such thing as dust-free clay litter, even when it says so on the bag.

Don’t go for scented either. A lot of cats don’t like it and there is another reason that I will mention later. Just burn some incense or a smelly candle in the room where the litter box is if your cat stinks the place up.

My choice is wood litter. It is biodegradable and it won’t harm cats when they clean themselves afterwards. You don’t want them to lick any clumpy clay litter traces and get that in their stomachs. Now, in the animal welfare sanctuary where Orla and I help out on Sundays, they use wood litter but they gave us a great tip to save money.

In DIY or builder provider shops you can buy Brites wood pellets. These are wood pellets that are meant for burning as fuel in biomass boilers. They look and feel the same as the wood litter pellets and also absorb in the same way. The difference is the price. We just bought ten bags and the guy in the shop gave us a discount, so instead of €4.40 per 10kg bag, we paid €3.81 per 10 kg bag.

It smells of pine which is nice anyway.  In pet shops you pay about €10 for a 12 kg bag. So count your blessings and go for the Brites pellets.

Cat Daddy Jackson Galaxy (the brilliant cat guy from the Animal Planet programme “My Cat From Hell”) is against cleaning the litter box too excessively with disinfectants.  He explains in one of his videos on youtube that cats use poo and pee for marking their territory as well. That’s why cats on the toilet is not a good idea either, as they can’t mark their territory.

You can just simply scoop the poop and the pee, but don’t remove the subtle smell markers that will be still there for cats to smell but not for humans. He says that he only disinfects his litter boxes maybe once every 6 months. It makes sense. Just scoop, if necessary clean out any smears with some kitchen towel and replace scooped out litter. 

I earlier mentioned that scented litter isn’t a great idea. Cats often don’t like it but it will also be in the way of their scent markers. Another reason is the fact that poo and pee can be indicators for if there is something wrong with cats and they need to see a vet. When urine smells stronger than normal it can be an indication that there’s trouble with the kidneys. Scented litter is therefore not a good idea as you are less likely to notice the change in smell.
It's also another reason not to toilet train your cat. Just let your cat be a cat. A litter box is already compromise enough.

 photo from: southernwoodenergy.co.uk

Cats and water.

Mikkie, my first cat, loved sitting on the countertop, playing with the water coming out of the tap. She would even stand in the sink, playing with the water, not being bothered one bit by getting wet.

Cato didn’t like water. Whenever a few drops landed on him when he was in the kitchen, he would run.

Charlie loves running water: playing with it and drinking it straight from the tap or licking it off his paw. Tina likes running water too, but is not as keen on it as Charlie is.

Cats are not great drinkers. That’s why wet food and raw meat like chicken fillet is way better for them than dry food which also often contains a lot of grain fillers which a cat can’t process. Wet food has about 78 percentage of water in it and dry food only about 8. Still, even on a wet diet, it is a good thing when a cat drinks a bit too. When cats drink a lot, you might be in trouble. On a diet with a lot of fillers, cats can develop diabetes. When they start losing weight and drink a lot then you better see your vet as soon as possible. First get them off the food with all the fillers and get them on a grain-free, wet diet. Grau does tinned food without grains and Applaws do dry food without grains (you can buy these at zooplus.ie)

Now, back to Charlie and Tina and the water. Because they both like running water I decided to give a drinking fountain a try. The lucky kitty drinking fountain consists of a ceramic bowl with ceramic top. It comes with a little electric pump and a tube. One end of the tube is connected to the pump. The rubber feet of the pump are then pressed in place inside the bowl and you fill the bowl with water. You connect the other end of the tube to the outlet of the ceramic top and place the top over the bowl. Your fountain is ready for use. It makes a slight humming noise but you can hardly hear it and the water slowly streams from the top down into an opening at the bottom where it goes back in the bowl again.

You clean the bowl and top every few days and the pump about once a week. I would recommend using filtered water as it filters out most of the lime so your pump is less likely to clog up with lime deposit.

We use one of these jug water filters for our own drinking water and for the cats.

After installing the fountain, Charlie was the first to give it a go. It was fun watching him play with the water and licking it off the rippled surface.

Tina went at it as well and seemed to like it straight away.

It’s been working away now for a few days and Orla observed them going for it a couple of times. I also saw them drink from it a few times and play with the water as well. All in all, a good buy, I think. The nice thing about this fountain is that it is sturdy, made of dishwasher-proof ceramics. It is quite heavy so cats won’t knock it over or move it around. The pump is quiet and can be replaced. A replacement pump costs 10 Euro. If the tube ever needs to be replaced, you can probably get it in a DIY shop. There are no filters in it that need to be replaced.

Tina and Charlie seem happy with it and when my cats are happy, I’m happy.

 Charlie playing with the fountain.

A nightly snack.

This morning I got up to clean the litter box. Orla was going to feed them. When I opened the bedroom door, I saw all these little brownish specks on the floor in the hall. When I went closer to examine it, I also saw a little bag and then it dawned on me. The two little feckers had pulled down the little bag of treats (dried chicken stomachs) I had up on a shelf with some other cat stuff. I had already used it a few times and sealed the bag after use. They found their own way in though. There was a big hole in the front of it. I couldn’t help but laugh. Not much good in giving out about it. They’re hunters and they had done a good job on finding the snack and gaining access to it. Just a little reminder not to have food I don’t want them to get at, anywhere where they can reach it. Hell, I have cans on that shelf as well. In my mind I can already see Tina flipping out a bionic nail I don’t know of, and using it as a can opener during the night (I watched and read X men and am thinking of Wolverine). The two of them would be lying on their backs in the morning, surrounded by opened cans, with round bellies, letting out a big burp when they see me. Ah, I think I will be alright leaving the tins up there.
I can't even imagine how they got at the bag anyway. I had it hidden behind the tins,  and wedged in between some other stuff. They removed it with surgical precision, not disturbing anything else on the shelf. Mission Impossible springs to mind, only Charlie and Tina are probably taller than Tom Cruise and certainly better looking.